An integrated software system includes a collection of separate software components that work together as a single entity. The separate software components are often developed and maintained by various software suppliers. In this case, the separate software components produced by the various software suppliers are brought together in an integration process to form the integrated software system. It should be appreciated that the integration process can be a difficult undertaking with regard to resolving complex inter-product and intra-product interface issues among the separate software components. For example, interface issues to be resolved may include: 1) use of different versions of supposedly common software blocks within the multiple software components, 2) use of shared system resources, e.g., ports, environment variables, memory (RAM), etc., by different software components, 3) different software components delivering their finished software on separate release cycles, 4) different software components running on separate release cycles, 5) conflicting dependencies among various software components, etc.
Difficulty with integration of separate software components to form a properly operating integrated software system can be exacerbated when the various suppliers of the software components work separately from each other with less than adequate communication. Considering the foregoing, a solution is needed to improve the efficiency of the integration process for developing and maintaining an integrated software system, particularly when various software components are supplied by separate software suppliers.